Ray Charles and The Judds joined the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday in a ceremony filled with tears, music and laughter, just a day after Naomi Judd died unexpectedly.

As country music's biggest stars prepared to celebrate the annual CMA Awards, a group of artists, academics and historians gathered to correct the record on the genre's past and offer ideas on how it can expand outside its typical white lines.

Will a criminal conviction do to R. Kelly's music what years of ugly allegations couldn't?

Drummer Kenny Malone, a prolific session player who played on hits for Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard and many others, has died. He was 83. Malone's friend and former bandmate Dave Pomeroy said he died Thursday after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

NASHVILLE-Mickey Guyton is turning a mirror on country music by speaking her truth and reclaiming both her career and identity. Delivering a one-two punch of important songs this year leading up to her first new EP in five years, Guyton is not holding back her powerful voice any longer.

When country singer Rissi Palmer was working on her debut album, she wanted a song like Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman," a song that would introduce her and tell her story to fans. On her 2007 debut single, "Country Girl," she celebrated her country roots while explaining that she didn't have to look or talk a certain way to call herself a country girl.

Writers and artists are relying on technology to co-write and record songs remotely with many recording studios shuttered due to the coronavirus.

The NRA's relationship with country artists and music organizations has fractured in recent years after several mass shootings.

What started as a joke about an unwritten rule among country radio stations not to play two female artists in a row prompted outrage, but also pledges to give women equal airtime.

Writer-director Callie Khouri is drawn to stories about female friendships and country music, and her latest television film "Patsy and Loretta" combines those passions into the true story of a friendship between two of country music's most powerful voices.

Jerry Lee Lewis is one of the early pioneers of rock 'n' roll music, but he doesn't understand why his contributions to country music haven't been recognized by the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now 81, Lewis said that when he first came to Nashville from Louisiana, he was advised to pick up a guitar instead of playing the piano.

Sam Moore of the soul duo Sam and Dave has been added to the list of performers for President-elect Donald Trump's inaugural events. Moore told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he felt that the criticism leveled at singer Jennifer Holliday, which led to her to back out of the event, was unfair.